Meditation clinical trials at University of California Health
7 in progress, 5 open to eligible people
Compassion Meditation vs. Health Education for Veterans
open to eligible people ages 18 years and up
Chronic pain (CP) is a major health problem for military Veterans, and CP is often associated with comorbid mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. CP with psychological comorbidity is associated with increased healthcare costs, medication use, risk of suicide and rates of disability and reduced quality of life. Current empirically supported treatments do not always lead to substantial improvements (up to 50% of patients drop out or are do not respond to treatment). This project was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a novel intervention for addressing these challenges. Compassion meditation (CM), a meditative practice that focuses on the wish to remove suffering, is a contemplative practice that has promise for the amelioration of physical and mental health problems as well as promoting positive affect and improving quality of life. This study will evaluate the efficacy of Cognitively-Based Compassion Training for Chronic Pain with Psychological Comorbidity (CBCT-CP+) compared to Health Education while Living with Pain (H.E.L.P.) control condition, in a sample of among Veterans with CP conditions and psychological comorbidity.
at UCSD
Dynamic Neural Systems Underlying Social-emotional Functions in Older Adults
open to eligible people ages 60-120
Assess the impact of a remote, app-delivered digital meditation intervention on emotional well-being of lonely older adults. Neuroimaging and autonomic physiology will be used to assess the neural correlates of the intervention.
at UCSF
Heart Rate Oscillations During Meditation on Plasma Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease
open to eligible people ages 18-35
In the current study, we will examine how two types of concentration meditation practices affect plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). We will also examine the effects of the two types of meditation practices on emotional well-being and episodic memory. Healthy adults aged 18-35 who meet all eligibility criteria will be invited to this study. Participants will be asked to engage in one week of daily meditation practice or no-intervention control task at home. They will also be asked to visit the lab twice, once before and once after the intervention, to provide blood samples to assess plasma biomarkers of AD and to complete emotion questionnaires and a memory test.
at UC Irvine
Meditation Accelerated Brain Stimulation for Depression
open to eligible people ages 18 years and up
Repetitive Transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an FDA-approved treatment for depression that involves brief magnetic stimulation pulses on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) brain region. The ultimate goal of this treatment is to increase excitability and long-term plasticity in DLPFC, a brain region shown to be hypo-active in depression. Unfortunately, rTMS only has low to moderate efficacy; remission rates for patients range from ~15-30% in large randomized controlled trials. The focus of this research is to develop a next-generation rTMS protocol that is guided by the basic principles underlying brain plasticity, in order to improve the efficacy of rTMS for the treatment of depression. Specifically, in this study the investigators will test rTMS paired with a depression-relevant cognitive state of internal attention.
at UCSD
Neural Mechanisms of Meditation Training in Healthy and Depressed Adolescents: An MRI Connectome Study PART 2
open to eligible people ages 14-18
The primary objective will be to study changes in putamen connectivity and depression severity in depressed teens with meditation training. H1: Putamen node strength will increase in the training group compared to the active controls. H2: This increase in node strength will correlate with practice amount recorded by participants. H3: There will be a significant reduction in self-rated depression symptoms following the training as measured by the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS-2), compared to controls. H4: This reduction will correlate with the increase in putamen node strength. Design and Outcomes: The current research study design will utilize an individually randomized group treatment, open-label, active-controlled clinical trial to test the efficacy and safety of the investigator's innovative mindfulness meditation intervention (Training for Awareness Resilience and Action [TARA]) on the primary outcome (Putamen structural node strength) and secondary outcome (depression symptoms measured using Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale [RADS-2]) in depressed adolescents between the ages of 14 to 18 years old.
at UCSF
Mindfulness Meditation or Survivorship Education in Improving Behavioral Symptoms in Younger Stage 0-III Breast Cancer Survivors (Pathways to Wellness)
Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients
This randomized phase III trial studies how well mindfulness meditation or survivorship education work in improving behavioral symptoms in younger stage 0-III breast cancer survivors. Behavioral interventions, such as mindfulness meditation, use techniques to help patients change the way they react to environmental triggers that may cause a negative reaction. Survivorship education after treatment may reduce stress and improve the well-being and quality of life of patients with breast cancer. Mindfulness meditation or survivorship education may help improve the health behaviors of younger breast cancer survivors.
at UCLA
Stress Management and Resiliency Training Following Acute Myocardial Infarction
Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients
The goal of this pilot study is to use total body PET/CT imaging to examine the relationships between stress, amygdala activation, and arterial wall inflammation in participants before and after participating in a multi-modal stress reduction program.
at UC Davis
Our lead scientists for Meditation research studies include Jyoti Mishra, PhD Olga Tymofiyeva Michelle Dossett Patricia Ganz Lorenzo Pasquini, PhD Anne L Malaktaris.
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